A Rose By Any Other Name
by musicalfreak86
Summary: Neither Callie nor Erica likes Valentine's Day, but can they keep their agreement to ignore it completely?


_I don't own Grey's Anatomy.  
_

* * *

The sun was rising on Valentine's Day. A holiday dedicated to love and romance, when people of all ages snuck around concealing flowers and chocolates and planning fancy dinners, waiting for just the right moment to surprise that certain special someone.

Everyone, that is, except a certain two doctors on staff at Seattle Grace Hospital.

"I hate Valentine's Day," Erica groaned groggily, turning so she could hide her face against Callie's neck. She peered up at her through one bleary eye. "Is it over yet?"

Callie chuckled. "No, I'm afraid it's barely started." She looked down at her seriously. "Erica, listen. We both hate Valentine's Day, right?" She paused as Erica nodded her agreement. "So, unless you were planning something, can we just agree to ignore it? Because dedicating the whole day to flowers and chocolate gets on my nerves. I love you, but nothing ever gets done if we waste time sneaking around like idiots."

"I'm all for that," Erica said, stretching. "I love you too, but I despise Valentine's."

"Good," Callie replied. Sighing, she glanced over at the clock. "I guess it's time to get up and face this wretched holiday."

***

The first thing Callie saw when she got to work was signs of Valentine's Day everywhere. If it wasn't someone sneaking around with flowers hidden behind their back, it was an obnoxious singing card, or a holiday related injury. Not that she minded the injuries themselves; she loved her job. It was the people that irritated her. No matter how bad the break, the injured party somehow managed to remain cheerful and lovey-dovey. She did have to admit, however, that a few of the cases were amusing. Her favorite so far had been a man who had literally tried to shout his love from the rooftops, managing to fall and break a leg and a few ribs in the process. He had been rushed in by a hysterical girlfriend who spent the whole time alternating between worrying over his leg and gushing about how romantic he had been.

Now she was sitting at the nurses' station filling out his chart and trying to ignore the brightly colored flowers and chocolates passing before her at regular intervals. This became impossible when Derek Shepherd appeared out of nowhere and placed a large basket of roses on the desk, partially obscuring her view of his face.

"Wow," she remarked, taken aback by the sheer size of it. "Hello there Romeo."

"Very funny," he said with a small smile. "Have you seen Meredith anywhere?"

"I think she got paged to the clinic," Callie replied. She reached for the bouquet, turning it to get a better look. "Red and white huh? Pretty."

"It's not just pretty," Derek said, looking it over himself. "Red and white together symbolize unity. And I'm planning to hide this," he held up the engagement ring he had been carrying around for about a week, "inside it. What do you think?"

"Cheesy, cliché, and very romantic," Callie said with a laugh. "It's perfect." She paused, thinking over what he had said. "Roses have meanings?"

"Oh yes," Derek replied, searching for the best place to nestle the ring. "Red are for your traditional, romantic love, yellow signifies happiness and friendship, lavender means love at first sight. They all symbolize something different. And when you combine them, you get different meanings."

"Wow," Callie repeated, looking at the bouquet again with wide eyes. "I never knew you could say so many things with flowers!" She gently touched a red rose. "Where did you get these?"

"There's a little flower shop near here. The lady who runs it knows all the different meanings by heart. She's really very helpful." He picked up the basket. "I'll see you later. Wish me luck."

"Luck," Callie called to his retreating back. She glanced at the clock. Her lunch break was about to start, and she had an idea brewing.

***

That evening, Callie got home before Erica. She tried to sit and wait, but couldn't manage to stay still. So she got up and paced a little, nervous about her gift. They'd had an agreement, and she had broken it. The gesture was innocent enough, but she knew that Erica despised the holiday, perhaps even more that Callie did.

She jumped when she heard the lock on the door click. Turning, she hid her gift behind her back.

"Hey Cal," Erica said, shutting the door behind her. She stopped when she looked up and saw Callie's tense posture.

"H-hey Erica," Callie replied with a nervous smile. Erica eyed her suspiciously.

"What's going on Callie?" she asked, warily. She cautiously stepped forward and put her bag down before kicking her shoes off. Callie cleared her throat.

"Um, you remember our agreement?" she asked, though she knew there was no way Erica had forgotten it. "The one we made this morning?" Erica nodded, her gaze penetrating and unreadable, and Callie sighed, resigned. "I kind of broke it. But just a little!" She faltered when Erica's expression did not change. "It's Shepherd's fault!"

Erica smiled a little at Callie's obvious discomfort. She was cute when she got all flustered. "It's okay Cal, I'm not mad. What did you do?"

Callie took a deep breath and stepped forward. From behind her back, she produced a single, yellow rose with a red tip. It had been carefully wrapped and tied with a red ribbon by the florist. Erica reached out to touch it before putting her hand over Callie's which held the rose. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

"It signifies friendship and falling in love," Callie said. "It seemed perfect for us." She lowered her voice until it was barely above a whisper. "And I hear that if you hang it upside down, it'll last forever."

"It is perfect," Erica said, quietly. She looked up to meet Callie's eyes. "I have a confession to make as well." She smiled apologetically. "I kind of broke the agreement, too." Stepping over to her bag, she pulled out a long box. Moving so she was once again close to Callie, she removed the lid. Inside sat a single, long stemmed, red rose. "I don't know the meanings of the flowers, but this one made me think of you. Your fiery personality." She gave Callie a cheeky grin, but it soon faded to a worried expression. "Do you like it?"

Callie took it out of the box and held it gently. "I love it," she said. Suddenly, she started laughing. "We're just a couple of softies, aren't we? Can't even resist Valentine's Day!" She hugged Erica tightly, the red rose in her grasp, and the yellow in Erica's.

***

Later that evening, they lay in bed, again cuddled in one another's warm embrace. Their very first Valentine's Day together was finally drawing to a close, and they were both glad to see it go.

"It wasn't completely horrible," Callie said. Erica, who was laying with her head pillowed against Callie's shoulder nodded.

"I think I can understand some of the appeal of the rotten holiday," she said. "I did feel kind of romantic waiting to give you that flower."

"It was kind of a rush, too," Callie added. "'Course, that was probably because I didn't know if you would be mad at me for breaking our agreement."

Erica shrugged. "A flower's harmless enough." She looked up to meet Callie's eyes and frowned. "I know that look. Callie, what are you planning?"

Trying and failing to look innocent, Callie replied, "I was just thinking that next year maybe we could try a few more of those cheesy pointless Valentine's Day things. Not overdo it, but just try a few. What do you think?"

Erica shrugged, "I don't hate the idea. And I have a whole year to warm up to it." She smirked. "But right now, Valentine's Day isn't quite over, and I can think of a holiday activity that neither of us will have a problem with." Swinging a leg over, she straddled Callie. She leaned down and kissed her hard, then pulled back and rested their foreheads together. Callie laughed.

"I should have known your mind would go straight to that," she said. Leaning up, she kissed her, more gently this time. "Happy Valentine's Day Erica. I love you more than all the chocolate and flowers in the world."

"I love you too Callie. And I'm glad we broke our agreement." They both looked over at their roses, hanging upside down together on the wall.


End file.
